


A Change in Cattitude

by sashawiremarryme



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Cats, Juno Steel Fluff Week 2018, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-06-05 05:55:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15164117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sashawiremarryme/pseuds/sashawiremarryme
Summary: Juno's stuck taking care of Franny's cat for the night. He's surprised to find that it's very friendly.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt was affection which I'm pretty sure meant give Juno a pet

Juno Steel was just trying to get some work done when he heard it. Rita was cooing over something outside his office. “She’s probably just watching a stream, Steel,” he told himself, “don’t ask questions.” The sounds continued.

“Aren’t you just the cutest lil’ thing I’ve ever seen? Yes you are! Yes you are!” He reluctantly opened the door, fearful of what he would find. What he found was Rita cuddling a small, mangy looking cat. Her eyes were closed but the cat stared at him with its six compound eyes—wait, five compound eyes. One of them was swollen closed. Juno was no veterinarian, but he was pretty sure it was infected. “Wait til’ Mista Steel sees you, cutie.”

“When Mister Steel sees it, he’s probably going to throw it back to the same seedy alley you found it.” Rita nearly fell off her chair when Juno spoke. “What are you doing Rita?”

“You can’t get rid of her, Mista Steel. I didn’t even find her in an alley!” Rita pleaded. “She was Franny’s, who did find her in an alley a few days ago but that doesn’t matter because Franny is moving into a new apartment that doesn’t allow pets, which should be illegal as far as I’m concerned because it’s inhumane to deprive people of the right to have a kitty this cute.” Juno coughed. “But anyway, like I was saying, Franny can’t keep her so I offered to take her off her hands and when I brought her back to my place I found out that apparently I’m not allowed to have a pet either so after my landlord yelled at me and told me that he was going to evict me like five or six times I brought her here instead.”

“... You’re kidding me” Juno stared at her in disbelief, still trying to decipher her jabbering.

“I know right! Can you believe that me and Franny can’t have pets? It’s so cruel because there are so many cute dogs that I want and I’m not allowed to get and it’s just unfair Mista Steel!”

“There’s no way the cat’s staying here Rita. Look at that thing, it’s probably carrying forty previously undiscovered diseases as well as every type of flea Mars. I’m pretty it’s never walked past a vet, let alone been vaccinated, and look at its eye.” 

“Which one?”

“The one that it can’t see out of.”

“That one?” She looked at it. “It’s just a cut, it’ll be fine in a few days.”

“Rita—” he started.

“And anyway,” she interrupted, “I wasn’t going to keep it here. I checked the lease and it turns out this is a strictly no pets building too. But…” she looked at him, “I do know one person who’s allowed to keep pets in their apartment.” She gave a mischievous grin.

“No,” Juno realised what she wanted, “I’m not letting that thing anywhere near my apartment.

 

Juno wasn’t precisely sure how Rita had managed to convince him to take care of the cat. It was only for one night, she needed some time to find a shelter to take it. If she didn’t, he had promised to send it back to the street.

He was on his way home when he decided that he should get the cat checked at a vet, just to make sure that there was no chance of it giving him some deadly disease while he was sleeping. To his surprise, the cat was reasonably healthy. No undocumented diseases, no flesh-eating parasites, the cut on its eye wasn’t even that bad. The vet was able to clean it up and injected it with something, by the time they got home, the swelling had already gone down.

He gave the cat a tin of tuna he had lying around and poured himself a drink. The cat decided it wanted what he was having.

“No,” he pushed it away, “you can’t have this, this is mine.” The cat persisted. He held the above his head, but the cat just proceeded to climb his arm. “This is human drink, not cat drink.” He stood up, trying to dislodge the cat. It fell to the ground before leaping onto the couch where Juno had been sitting. “Did you do that to get my seat?” The cat didn’t answer, it just curled up on his couch and started licking itself. “You know, I honestly don’t know how I expected you to respond to that.”

He finished his drink and went to bed. He was sure he heard the sound of something breaking in the other rooms as the cat explored his apartment, but he decided to deal with it in the morning as he drifted off to sleep.

He woke up moments later as a ball of fur sat on his face.

“What?” He coughed, confused. “Get off me!” He sat up and swatted the cat away when he deduced what was happening. The cat fell onto his lap and looked at him for a moment. It walked up to his chest and nuzzled against him. “You’re friendly, aren’t you?” He patted it, unsure if this was what it wanted. It purred in encouragement. “Do you have a name?” He asked while searching for a collar, by the time his unsuccessful search was completed, he had already decided on a name. “Do you like the name Ben?” He asked her. She licked his hand. “I take that as a yes.” Ben allowed him to lie down again, without jumping on his face. Instead, she curled up next to his chest and continued nuzzling him as he fell asleep.

 

Rita hadn’t managed to find a shelter for Ben by the time Juno brought her back to the office. He feigned frustration at having to care for her for more than the agreed upon day after she practically begged him not to get rid of it.

On the way home from work that day he bought Ben a collar and a few cat toys, to stop her from destroying his apartment when he wasn’t home, as well as an automatic feeder to ensure she wouldn’t starve next time he was kidnapped and wouldn’t be able to make it home for a few days. 

Every day he made sure she had enough food and water but every night she would still try to steal whatever he was having. The two of them spent every night sleeping near each other. Some nights Ben sat on him and other nights she spent lying on the corner of his bed, but she was always close by. Those nights when the nightmares got too much Ben would always race to Juno’s side, snuggling him until he calmed down.

There were a few times Rita mentioned finding a shelter for Ben. Each time Juno brushed her aside, he would tell her horror stories about shelters he had visited in the past, and would refuse to let them take Ben until he had personally investigated them. Compared to some of those places, throwing Ben out on the street would be a mercy. The only problem? He never seemed to find the time to investigate, so Ben stayed with him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I added another chapter at the request of likeactuallyroselalonde on tumblr.  
> Hope you enjoy!

Peter Nureyev opened Juno’s window, a task he had done many times before, and slipped into his apartment. It was dark, Juno must have remembered to turn the lights off for once, most nights he only fell asleep when he was too physically exhausted to stay awake. On more than one occasion Peter had come home to find Juno, unconscious on the couch, with all of the lights on along with most of his appliances.

Fortunately for him, Peter had spent enough time in this apartment to soundlessly navigate it in the pitch-black. He crept into Juno’s bedroom and got ready for bed without disturbing the detective. He slid into bed and wrapped his arms around Juno and moved closer to him. Instead of pressing his body against a beautiful lady, as he intended, a small, warm, furry lump sat between him and Juno. It yelpt when Peter touched it and he felt a sharp pain in his wrist. He leapt back in shock, and unfortunately for him, he was close enough to the edge of the bed that his reflexive maneuver was enough to send him falling to the floor. Even a master thief makes a sound when they fall.

Immediately after he hit the floor the bedroom light came on. “Nureyev?” Juno lowered the gun he had already managed to procure. “What are you doing?”

“I was just admiring your floor, it’s surprisingly comfortable” He studied his wrist and saw three shallow cuts.”Would you like to try it?”

“Are you okay?” 

“I appreciate the concern, detective, but it’s nothing to be overdramatic about. There isn’t even any blood.” He twisted his arm to show Juno. But Juno wasn’t talking to him, he was petting a small cat, trying to calm it down as it glared at Peter. “I hate to ask this Juno,” he started as he watched them, “but have you replaced me with a cat?”

Juno’s eyes flicked between him and the cat. “The cat doesn’t talk back.”

“I thought that was part of my charm.” Then he sneezed.

“You okay Nureyev?” Juno looked at him.

“Perfectly fine,” he sniffed, “never been better.”

“You’re not allergic to cats, are you?” Juno tried not to laugh. “What kind of thief is allergic to pets?”

“This thief,” he seethed, “maybe, if you’d warned me you were planning on getting one, I could have gotten some medication before I came here.” He sat down on the bed again.

“Maybe you should stop sneaking into people’s apartments in the middle of the night.” Peter watched as the cat jumped off Juno and warily made its way towards him. He nervously held out his hand but the cat flinched and backed away. “I don’t think she likes you.” Juno laughed.

“Don’t be ridiculous, everybody likes me, even the people I’ve stolen from like me.” He managed to wink at Juno before he was overcome with the urge to sneeze again.

“This must be a first for you then,” Juno collapsed back onto his back as the cat paced between him and Peter, “but I think you’re sleeping on the couch tonight.”

Peter didn’t protest, he wanted to get away from that cat. The rest of Juno’s apartment wasn’t a significant improvement. He hadn’t noticed it when he came in, it had been dark and he’d been careful not to touch anything in case he woke Juno, but nearly every surface was covered in cat hair. He managed to brush off the couch without incident, and as he scrubbed his hands clean, he resolved to find some anti-allergy medication in the morning.

**Author's Note:**

> Pls don't be mad at me for calling it Ben, I nearly called it Peter which I think we can all agree would have been worse.  
> Also, I just realised that if I gave him a puppy then I could have called this 'Puppy Love'.


End file.
